Mumbai:
Considering inconvenience faced by commuters due to scheduling of ladies special services on its trans-harbour line, the Central Railway (CR) has reworked its time table and added new services. However, due to its reported improper communication in this regard with commuters, daily office-goers on the Thane-Vashi and Thane-Panvel routes were left confused on Tuesday, the first day after rescheduling of services.
"I used to board 9:50 service from Thane for Vashi. On Tuesday, when I tried to catch the train, it was announced that the service has been rescheduled for ladies. The 9:40 service, earlier meant for ladies, is now open for male commuters too," Raja Nayak, who frequents to Vashi, said.
He complained the commuters had to leave the train and catch another, which was scheduled 20 minutes later. "Most of the male commuters had to catch next train for Vashi. Any change in schedule leads to chaos in services and it should be conveyed in advance by the concerned authorities. Exactly, this is what has not happened and we will have to update ourselves on our own now," Nayak said.
Satish Tupe, another commuter, reiterated that CR should not toy with time table of services and instead, reserve 50 percent of the cars for women on ladies special trains. "There is not a big response to the ladies special services. Most of the bogies go vacant. In addition to this, the CR has started 12-car services from the earlier 9-car. We are not against ladies special services, but it should not trouble male commuters," Tupe said.
When contacted, Vidyadhar Malegaonkar, CR's Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) claimed that the details pertaining to rescheduling were already released by the authority in advance. "We had ensured commuters are aware of the rescheduling. As per the action plan, we have added services and almost all the trains will be 12-car now onwards. Everything has been communicated properly through Marathi, Hindi and English newspapers. If some commuters got confused on Tuesday, it will not be the case for long," Malegaonkar concluded.
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